


fire closest kept

by going_going_gone



Category: X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Bad Parenting, Betrayal, Bisexual Female Character, Break Up, Brotherhood of Mutants, Burnplay, Dubious Consent, Electrocution, F/F, F/M, First Kiss, First Time, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mostly Movie-Based, OC-centric, Parent-Child Relationship, Partner Betrayal, Self-Hatred, Self-Insert, Slow Burn, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2018-10-22 00:24:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10685961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/going_going_gone/pseuds/going_going_gone
Summary: Hannah thought that this could be a good thing. She thought that she'd finally found her people. But mutants aren't united. She thought she knew where she stood, with her friends, with Charles Xavier, defending equality, but we all make choices.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a thing I'm doing.

Chapter 1

Hannah stared at the fine blonde hairs on her mother’s upper lip, trying to say _anything_ to stop what was happening. It helped, not focusing on her father and his heavy stare, eyes bloodshot from his long night of drinking. He just wasn’t built for it, never had been, and Hannah was sure that he was still suffering from the negative effects. The vindictive part of her wasn’t entirely unhappy about that. That was most of her.

He was talking. God, he was _always_ talking. Like he thought anyone wanted to hear it. Even her mother looked ready to interrupt, to say anything to stop the constant lecturing. But there were no cracks in their foundation. They were a goddamned united front against...against _her_. _That_ was a new one.

Everything was new. It might sound depressing but her old life was over now. Completely over. She might as well be dead.

So that’s how she stopped him “Why don’t we all just say I died and I’ll get out of your hair, huh?”

Her father stopped abruptly, mustache fluttering with his sigh. “No- Now, Hannah, don’t be overdramatic. We’re not being unreasonable here.”

“I certainly don’t think we’re being unreasonable, Ted,” her mother agreed, smiling like someone had just sat down across from her and told her that- well, why not stick with realism- told her that her daughter was a mutant. One of those dirty, dangerous mutants. Always on the news. Always starting trouble.

“It’s just… Hannah, _you_ must understand. You’ve know that mutants are dangerous. Always on the news. Always starting trouble,” her father tried to reason. And wasn’t he _always_ reasonable. Like last night.

“I’m dangerous, then?” she asked after a moment, after her mother had stopped staring and her father had started glancing away, just ever so slightly. “Does that make _me_ dangerous?”

“Of course not, sweetheart. But...there are things we need to think about. If you really are a mutant, you could _possibly-_ ” her mother began, but her words quickly dried up in her throat.

Hannah’s father took over quickly, voice shaking. “You might _become_ dangerous. In the future. We know how those Mutant Rights Activists try to warp things. And you’ve always been a... _passionate_ person. Remember those long debates we had about the gays?”

“I remember your hate speech,” Hannah choked. God, it was just like this. Like this. Like he had a million things to say whenever she had one. No way to get a word in edgewise.

“ _Hannah_ ,” her mother exclaimed. “This is different.”

“How?”

“That was...a difference of opinion. And now that they’re allowed to get married we don’t need to worry about them much. But mutants... “

“Mutants could hurt any of us. None of us our safe. What if… What if you got angry one day Hannah? You could seriously hurt me or you mother. Even if you didn’t want to.”

“Even if I _did?_ ”

“Not funny, young lady,” her father snapped. But he wasn’t angry. He leaned away, face tensing. He was scared. Scared of her, of what she could do. Hannah’s skin tingled.

“What are you suggesting? What do you _think_ you’re going to do?”

“Hannah- please, show your father some respect!”

“ _What_ are you _suggesting_?” Hannah repeated.

“We’ve been doing some research, for the past couple of days,”

“What kind of research?” She was on guard. Hannah could only imagine, could only guess at what sort of government funded vitriol her parents had stumbled cluelessly upon. Fucking sheep. Goddamned empty-headed conformists. Her anger was making her sound too pretentious to handle. Another charge to bring against dear old mom and pop.

“We read the literature that the FoH provides.”

Hannah couldn’t keep from rolling her eyes.

“Hannah, they’re a helpful, legitimate organization. Not like some of those mutant _gangs_.”

“So Friends of Humanity can set off pipe bombs in free clinics and they’re an “organization” but as soon as a couple of mutants hold a peaceful protest they're a gang?”

“Hannah,” her father snapped, cheeks growing redder by the second. “Who the hell is putting these ridiculous thoughts in your head? Are they talking about mutants at school?”

“You think you were the first people I told I was a mutant?” she spat. ”You only know because I-”

“Lost control?” her mother cried, standing abruptly and stepping several paces away from the dining room table. Wary of her. Wary of her only child. A monster. An uncontrollable time bomb of a mutant “You killed Ms. Ginger!”

The orange tabby they’d had forever, the little asshole that attacked your ankles if you got too close. It was hardly a tragedy. Ms. Ginger was about _sixteen_ years old.

And when Ms. Ginger had attacked Hannah this time… There was no yelling no yanking at claws dug deep into the skin of her ankles. There were... _sparks_. Little lightning strikes dancing at the corners of her vision, arcs of electricity dancing over her skin. And Ms. Ginger flailed onto the ground and started _smoking_.

That had been three days ago, and after their initial panic and her mother’s grief-stricken sobs - jeez the cat was ancient, was it that big a deal?- her father had ordered them all to the dining room table for a “family meeting.”

If Hannah wasn’t trying to hardest to piss off her parents, she’d admit that she actually hadn’t had any indication of a mutation. She always been sympathetic towards the dangerous mutants her parents were so afraid of. Always on the news. Always getting into trouble. Hannah _got_ it. She _got_ being so angry at the way you were treated that you needed to cause a little property damage. She’d been repressing the urge to scream and smash for seventeen long _years_. But she’d never really thought she was a mutant. Her parents were religious, conservative. It wasn’t exactly a _fantasy_ of hers.

“Hannah, your mother and I had hoped that-”

“What are you going to do? Are you going to send me to one of those research facilities? Or maybe one of the FoH’s control camps? You know what happens there right?”

“They’re looking for a cure, trying to keep you from hurting yourself,” her father argued gruffly.

“They’re _death_ camps. They torture _innocent_ people for the sake of your bullshit cure.”

“Well you can’t stay here!” her mother shrieked. “You killed my cat! You could kill us! And I won’t let word get out that _my_ daughter is a filthy-”

“Stephanie!” her father stopped her abruptly, glaring up at his wife almost as fiercely at Hannah.  “I'll handle this.”

“She can’t _stay_ Harold. Make her see reason!” her mother said as she stomped out of the room, voice teetering off even as she walked down the hall.

Her father turned back slowly, and something about his face changed. Maybe she was imagining it, maybe Hannah was wishing so hard that he’d just _understand-_ his face looked softer somehow. His eyes weren’t hard, and he didn’t seem so angry right now. “She’s right, Hannah. It’s not safe.”

“You don’t know that. I’m not a monster. Mutants aren’t monsters.”

“You’re a...a livewire, Hannah. We don’t have to send you to a FoH camp. But the government-”

“Alright.”

“What?”

“I said alright,” she snapped, jerking away from the table roughly enough to send the chair clattering to the ground.

He shut his mouth abruptly, as if he hadn’t expected her to even consider it, let alone agree with him. But Hannah didn’t stick around to hear what he might manage to say next. She stomped up the stairs to pack.

Hannah was leaving alright, but there was no fucking way she was going anywhere they’d send her.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Hannah had never really thought about running away. Moving away, going off to college as far away as she could get, sure, but never running away. She was a middle class white girl from a small town. Hannah had no illusions about making it very far.

But that had been before. _Before_ a sudden case of mutation, _before_ an episode of General Hospital level drama at the dinner table, _before_ the dead cat.  

Now she knew she couldn’t stick around unless she wanted to live a life of captivity, being poked and prodded by the federal government. They _weren’t_ going to change their minds. Stephanie and Harold King couldn’t let the neighborhood know their daughter was a mutie.

Hannah didn't know what she might need, but she packed the bag anyway, sticking to warm clothing and necessities. She grabbed all the toiletries from the hall bathroom, trying to amuse herself by thinking about her parents finding all of their toilet paper missing.

Then she lugged her parents bed away from its frame long enough to grab her father’s emergency fund.

“Fuck you,” she whispered to the family photo on her mother’s night table.

It only took Hannah a few hours to ready herself, and only that long because she needed to work up the nerve to leave. Her father had gone to bed twenty minutes prior, and the moment was _just_ right.

Hannah slipped down the stairs, passing through the front door without looking back more than a _few_ times. She didn’t think about her friends at school, or her teachers. She didn’t think about how they’d explain away her absence. Really, she didn’t. Except that she did, and she thought about how expensive bus tickets were too, and about how she wasn’t even sure where her final destination might be, because Hannah wasn’t built for any sort of transient lifestyle.

She was crying when she finally got to the bus station. The clerk didn’t bat an eye at the display of emotion. Real weird stuff went down at the bus station, apparently. He must see ten things twice as bad every day.

“One ticket, north, to New York City,” he announced, rolling his bloodshot eyes when Hannah fumbled with the thin slip of paper. “Leaves in...five minutes. Better book it.”

She gasped, pulling the ticket close to her chest so she could run down to the terminal. She heard the clerk cluck his tongue at her, though soon she was too far away to hear him anymore.

Barely making it, Hannah practically shoved her ticket at the driver, who had the same, slightly annoyed, disinterested on her face.

Hannah took the grunt the woman made to mean she could take a seat. So she took the first seat she could, beside an elderly woman who seemed to be completely engrossed in the thin paperback she was reading.

She now had two hours and forty-four minutes to herself. She wouldn’t ever admit this, but Hannah was content to use this time to cry surrounded by a bus-load of strangers.

_____________________________________________________________________________

New York smelled almost as bad as Hannah had expected. She’d never really been to a large city before, so she had no frame of reference, but it had always looked sort of dirty on television. Episodes of Law & Order were all she really had as a frame of reference as she left the Greyhound terminal.

The city stretched out before her grotesquely, the people swarming the streets like so many insects. It set her nerves afire, the idea that she might accidentally repeat the Ms. Ginger incident with some poor tourist or commuter who didn’t deserve it nearly as much as the cat.

It was in the city that she noticed the buzzing and humming that surrounded her, like a chorus of voices singing to her. Any time she walked under an led screen, or passed close to a store front, it was like she could feel the light bulbs against her skin. It was a…new sensation, to say the least. She tried to ignore it as she dealt with the problem at hand.

She hurried away from the bus terminal, in search of somewhere to stay. She had about $200 dollars after the bus ride, and she needed a room for the night, as well as some food, if her stomach had anything to say about it. She wanted to ask for directions, but everyone looked really busy, and terrifying, or _way_ too friendly.

Hannah was wandering for quite a while when she came across the bright lights of Hotel Flore. It looked…well it looked really shitty, actually, but she _hoped_ that also meant cheap. Hannah crossed the cramped street with a crowd of other pedestrians.

She pushed through the pair of large, glossy doors into a…disappointing lobby. Really, it was terrible. It felt like she’d been shot back about thirty years, the way this place was decorated. Hannah felt like she’d been transported back to the seventies. The fucking ceiling was mirrored.

“Maybe this isn’t-“ she began, but her words dropped off suddenly when she saw the man seizing in one of the lobby chairs. She looked around, but none of the other poor souls in here seemed to be concerned. Shaking her head, Hannah turned away from the man and approached the front desk.

“I’d like a room,” she began, offering her polite small town girl smile.

“It’s $169 a night. Do you have a reservation?” the middle aged woman behind the desk asked in a monotone voice.

“You- you need a reservation for this place?”

“Yeah, little lady, you need a reservation here. Or a credit card, and some i.d.” the woman snapped, peering up at her through coke bottle glasses. “And you’re gonna need that everywhere. Junkies gotta go a couple blocks away from Times Square for a room.”

“I’m not a junkie,” Hannah tried to argue, but the woman had already turned away from her, eyes flicking right back down to her gossip rag. “I have cash. Can’t I just pay you in cash?”

            The woman looked back up. “For you? $300.”

            Hannah’s shoulders slumped. She didn’t have _that_ much cash. “But you said it was $169!”

“That’s for people who aren’t trying to get me to risk trouble with the day manager.”

            There was no hope with this lady.

            Or apparently with any of the other closest hotels, she found, about an hour later. The woman had been right that the hotels closest to the tourist district were way to legitimate to take cash from an obviously underage girl.

            It didn’t help that it was getting late. The lights made “dark” kind of impossible, but it didn’t change the fact that the people crowding the streets started to trickle away, and the majority left were much less…savory. She had not hope of finding a place to stay, and Hannah was coming to the terrifying realization that she didn’t have a place to stay in New York City.

            Hannah walked a total of ten blocks, she was pretty sure, ending up at the wrought iron fencing that surrounded what could only by Central Park. Her heart was stuttering and she was on the verge of crying when she made what might just be the worst decision of her life, _and_ everyone else’s. 

            Slipping into the tree line, Hannah moved through the small copse of trees nearest her eyes peeled for anywhere to sleep. A comfortable patch of grass, a secluded bench- anything.

            After twenty minutes of endless walking, Hannah was exhausted. Without another though the shoved through a pair of tall, thick bushed and hunkered into the hidden space between the two of them. She pulled her backpack close to her chest and got ready for a long night of sleeplessness. There was absolutely no _fucking_ way she was lowering her guard in a public park at night.   
\---

But no matter what her intentions, Hannah slipped into sleep eventually, body exhausted from more walking than she’d really ever done in one day, and her mind exhausted from the shock of running away. She couldn't have been asleep for more than a few hours when hands on her body woke her suddenly. A dark shape hunched over her, patting at her waist, searching for _something_.

            Hannah shrieked, scrambling away from the gropes.

The figure let out a low, angry growl. “Sorry, did I wake you?” the voice sneered.

“I-...what?” confusion and sleep fogged her brain, making her thoughts slower than usual.

“This is my spot, pretty-girl. Me and my boy’s spot,” he hissed, because she saw now, her eyes adjusting to the low light cast by the moon, that the figure was a full-bearded man, smiling cruelly at her. And he wasn't alone. There were three other men behind him.

“Holy shit!” she exclaimed, clutching her hands in front of her and pulling her knees against her chest. It was meager protections against men who looked like they wanted to eat her.

“Maybe she can make it up to us, huh Tommy?” one of the faces asked, smiling eagerly.

Hannah’s heart clenched. She felt the flutter of instinctual fear at those words. She didn't know what he was asking, but she knew she didn't have any money she was willing to give them, and it wasn’t likely they’d want any of her other things either.

“You wanna party, pretty-girl?” the leader asked. Her eyes widened, and she shook her head violently.

“Get the fuck out of here! You can’t-!”

“Playing hard to get, pretty-girl?” he asked. He inched towards her, holding his arms out like she was a particularly skittish cat.

“Who the fuck _are_ you! Stay the fuck away from me!”

“You’re the one trespassing, pretty-girl,” he assured her, eyes dipping away from her face.

            There was no way for her to get out of this unscathed, not without a fight. But there were three of these strange filthy men, all watching her like a hawk. It was a hopeless thought. Better to try to appease them.

            Unless...But she didn't know what she’d done before, what had happened to her stupid fucking Ms. Ginger. There was no telling whether she could replicate it. And the thought of hurting a person, it terrified her. A cat was one thing… She didn't want to do that. But the bearded man was inching closer. And the others, they started...making noises, taunting her, she supposed. It was her only choice, right? It wouldn’t be her fault if he got hurt. Drawing in a deep breath, Hannah let herself relax, dropping her knees, unclenching her arms.

“Oh, you’re a good girl, aren’t you?” he asked. The purr in his voice made her skin crawl. She took a second to focus, trying to recall the way she’d felt right before the last time. The way the air had felt, the way it had tasted.

            He made one final lunge at her, nothing gentle in his bearing. Hannah gasped for breath, eyes wide. Her heart sputtered in panic as he crashed into her. All thoughts of defending herself fled when his hands clamped onto her upper arms like vices.

“I bet you taste sweet,” he growled, rubbing himself against her.

            She understood now, vaguely, what he was after. She would be a murderer and a fornicator, now. God, she hated that she even cared, but what would her parents thing? A sob fell from her lips. The man looked up at the noise, eyes sparkling.

“What’s wrong, pretty-girl?” he asked. She shook her head, unable to reply. “Never been kissed?” he wondered.

            He levelled his lips with her, hesitating for only a second. The moment his skin met her’s, Hannah’s thoughts narrowed to one thing. She wanted to stop him, to hurt him. And she knew just how.

            It sounded different this time, higher, angrier. It was mild irritation that had spurred it on the first time. This time she was searching for a way to protect herself, to punish this filthy man for daring to touch her. He made a noise, like a yowling cat, before he crumpled to the ground. That was new. Ms. Ginger hadn’t made any noise.

            He fell away from her, and she put distance between them immediately, piling her things into her arms and standing. She sidled towards the bushes.

            The other men started shouting, crowding towards her. They looked confused, even frightened.

“She tased him!” another exclaimed.

“She ain’t holding nothing!”

“What she do, Frankie?”

“What the fuck did you just do?” This one came closer than the other, and she knew that he expected an answer.

“If you don't let me go, I’ll do it again!” she snapped, looking for a way around them in their bulky, tattered coats.

“What’ll you do again?” he pressed. “You got a weapon? Why didn’t the boss find it?”

            Hannah didn't understand why the man was so interested in knowing all of these things. She doubted that the usual response to threats was to ask about how the person would carry them out. There was a knowing look in his eyes, one that scared her more than the others’ anger.

“Let me go, or else!” she cried.

“You’re one of them, aren’t you?” he asked. The fear on his face was quickly fading, being replaced with suspicion and hostility.

“One of what, Hug? What are you talking about?”

“She’s a mutie,” he hissed.

            Hannah stared at him, mouth falling open. She didn't know how he’d come to such a quick conclusion, but she knew that this revelation would not be to her benefit. She doubted that she would be leaving this park alive.

            The other man erupted in a shout of surprise and anger, closing in on her quickly. Hannah backed up against the hard unyielding bark of a tree clutching her backpack for all the protection it could provide, hoping her strange new weaponized skin could protect her from the worst of this. The men started shouting insults, slurs, she didn't understand. They were working themselves up into a fervor.

            The new leader, the one who had recognized what she was, had pulled out a small knife when the shadows fell across their odd congregation.

            Hannah’s eyes snapped to the clearing she’d been trying to return to, to give herself space to fight back, where three figures had appeared. Two men and a woman. One man was taller than the other, and the woman looked like she might have light hair. Her attackers noticed just as she did, backing up just a tad.

“You okay, miss?” the taller of the men asked. She wanted to sob in relief. There was no telling how these strangers had happened upon them, but they had saved her life.

“Please!” she exclaimed. It was all she could manage.

            The shorter man strode forward, baring his teeth like an animal. Hannah shrank back, confused for a moment. But when most of her attackers took off running at the sight of him, it dawned on her. He wasn’t looking for a fight. He wanted to scare them away. It certainly worked.

            But it didn't work on all of them. The ringleader was staring, wide-eyed, but he hadn't run with his friends. “More of you freaks?” he asked, voice hard. “You must travel in packs.”

“And you don't?” the taller man asked. He wore some odd contraption over his eyes, but his gaze turned pointedly to where the criminal’s fellows had run off to.

“Damn muties!” he responded simply.

            The shorter man growled, throwing out his arms at his sides. Hannah stared as the long, metal claws seemingly burst from his knuckles, letting out an involuntary whimper. Her attacker shared her fear, turning on his heel and running as fast as his feet could carry him after the others.

“Are you okay?” the redheaded woman asked, after the man had run away and her rescuers had approached her. She sounded like she might be repeating herself. Hannah glanced up at her.

            She only blinked.

            The three strangers- the three other mutants- herded her out of the bushed after a few moments of tense silence, seeing they would get nowhere. They led her to a large vehicle- a plane- which they referred to as the X-Jet. Once on board, they introduced themselves. The taller man with the weird visor over his eyes was called Scott. He seemed nice, if a bit arrogant. The shorter man, called Logan, watched her but didn't speak much. She didn't think she liked him very much. The woman, Jean, was the kindest, speaking softly and answering questions Hannah hadn't even asked.

            Jean tried asking her if she was alright again once they boarded the plane.

“I...Yes, I’m alright,” she answered after a moment of thought. In fact, other than a little bit of residual fear, she was doing surprisingly well. There was the dull ache of grief, sure, but it wasn't as all-consuming as before. She supposed that might be a source of worry in and of itself. Her list of victims had just reached two, when just a few days ago she never would have expected to have one at all. And her parents… But then. Good riddance, right? Maybe…maybe.

“What’s your name?” Jean asked. The older woman sat down in the seat beside her, helping her with the straps.

“Hannah,” she answered, glancing down as Jean’s hands worked at the large X of fabric. It crossed completely over her chest, clipping in on either side of her hips. When it was in place, Jean sat back herself, clipping herself in. Needing to be helped with something so simple made her feel childish and stupid.

“Hannah. Do you know where we’re taking you?” she asked, turning her head. Jean’s eyes never left Hannah’s face, assuring her that her attention was undivided. “Do you know who we are?”

“Should I? You’re mutants and… I’m a mutant.  But I don’t know who you are.”

“You know you’re a mutant? That’s good. Some of us, when our powers first manifest...we have no idea what’s going on.”

“They talk about mutants all the time on tv. My mother was always angry when I watched it, said mutants were monsters, that they were a danger to society. The devil’s work…”

“You live in a cult, kid?” Logan asked, glancing back at her, one brow raised slightly.

“My parents are assholes,” Hannah explained. The confusion mirrored in Logan and Scott’s faces told her nothing.

“What made you go to New York City?” Jean asked. “Did your parents threaten you?

“I-” Hannah waited for the rush of sorrow thoughts of her parents brought to subside before she continued. “My father… He told me he didn’t want me in the house anymore. Said I was dangerous. I think they wanted to send me to one of those bullshit fucking mutant camps. I know what they do to people there.” Her hands shook as she spoke. She needed a moment, or Hannah feared she may start crying again.

            The plane was silent, no one urging her on. They all looked like this was a situation they found themselves in frequently. She wondered how many young mutants they had rescued, and what safe haven they were taking her to.

“I killed our cat. It was an accident, I think. But they were so _angry_.”

“Hannah,” Jean began her, looking a bit weary. “We all make mistakes when we first come into our powers. And back in the park. You were defending yourself.”

 The words were like instant relief, and she let herself ignore the words in the back of her head, the accusing words that pointed out that the man in the bushes had been worse than just defending herself.

“We’ll take you somewhere safe, Hannah,” Scott said. He leaned forward in his seat then, fingers tapping along station at the front of the plane. Was that what would make it fly? A few buttons?

“Where are you taking me?” she asked cautiously. “What’ll happen when the police find that…body?”

“Charles Xavier’s School,” Jean answered, smiling reassuringly. “A school for mutants.”

“And we’ll send someone for the body, once you’re safe.”

“I-I know that place.” Hannah told them. At least there was no wondering about what she might have found there. She’d know soon enough. “The commercials, on the tv. My mom always got pissed when she saw them but-“

“Scott, I told you going public had benefits,” Jean said, smiling up at the man. “If young mutants know where to find us, they don't have to wait for us to find them first.” He nodded back, meeting her eyes for a moment before turning back to the front. A few seconds of silence were ended when the plane began lurching. She gasped, clutching at the chair for dear life.

“We’re taking off, Hannah. Are you alright?” Jean asked.

            But Hannah was only half-listening. Because she didn’t want to leave. God, why hadn’t this occurred to her before? She’d spent her entire life never going more than a mile or two from her home town, let alone leaving the entire state behind. Her breath was catching in her throat, and she panted to compensate. And she’d never been in a plane before. They were seconds from leaving the ground. Maybe they would never come down.

“Okay, okay, Hannah, listen,” Jean said, voice filtering through her panic. “You’re having a panic attack, do you understand? Can you hear me?”

            She tried to nod, but her chest burned and her vision was filling with black spots. People weren’t meant to fly. Obviously she was dying, there wasn’t enough air in the plane to go around and because it was her first time, she was the one who was struggling. The mindless fear triggered something, and a familiar bell-like toll rung through the air. Hannah knew what that meant.

            When Jean reached out to comfort her, Hannah shrunk back. “Don’t. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’re...sparking,” Jean told her, eyebrows drawing together in thought. “electrical impulses…”

            But she didn’t hear the rest of Jean’s explanation. Her eyes filled with more black and she slipped swiftly into darkness.

\---

Hannah felt herself waking a few moments before she could actually open her eyes. The air still shifted with warm, ringing energy, but it was muted, less intense than the first and second time. Jesus, she was passing out way more than she was comfortable with. When had she become such a little bitch about stuff?

            Her body was sore, and she wondered if it was from the fainting or the panic attack. Both, probably. Cracking open dry, itchy eyes, Hannah took in what she could of the room while lying down. The ceiling was pale metal, shiny and curving over her head, and the lights were perhaps a bit too bright for comfort. As soon as the thought came the lights dimmed. Shocked, Hannah pulled herself up into a seated position. She wasn’t alone in the room.

“Hello, Hannah.”

            It was a man, older than her, perhaps in his late fifties or early sixties, bald, with a pair of kind, dark eyes. He sat in a wheeled chair which he rolled closer to her as soon as she caught sight of him.

“Hello?”

“I’m Professor Charles Xavier,” he told her. Hannah nodded. So they had gotten to the school. “I was wondering if you might come up to my office?”

            She nodded tentatively, but she wasn’t quite sure that she could manage much walking. Her head ached. With a fortifying breath, she edged off the metal table she’d been sleeping on. It took a few seconds for her legs to take her weight, but when they did, she was sure could manage a short walk.

            But her shoes were gone. She wanted to ask, but he was already talking again.

“I’ll ask, just to be certain, but I think I know the answer,” the Professor began, turning his chair towards the door. Hannah hurried to follow him out of the room and into a hallway. The walls were still made of metal. “You’d like to be enrolled here, at the school, yes?”

            She nodded quickly.

“Good, good.” He was silent for a moment, and Hannah wondered if he expected her to say anything. She needn’t worry, though. He started up again shortly after. “You seem to know very well that you’re a mutant, Hannah. Most of the new students go through a short period of denial. Why do you think you’re different?”

“I don’t- I have no idea. There was no denying what I’d done…” Hannah paused. “It was the only thing that made sense. I mean, you guys are all over the news. We learn about you in school. There’s no pretending.”

“That’s very astute, Hannah. Now, I regret asking, but could you think back to the first manifestation of your powers?”

            She glanced down at him. She wanted to say no. Hannah hardly knew this man. The other mutants had seemed to trust that this was a safe place, but she couldn’t share that with him. But he _was_ helping her.

And what if it angered him? If he made her leave, there would be nowhere else for her to go.

“I remember it just fine,” she finally said, hoping he would understand.

“I’m truly sorry for your loss. Losing your parents, it’s never anything but a tragedy. But Jean told me that she saw you sparking on the X-jet.”

“I didn’t lose them…they just- I mean, they tried to hand me over to the government, which sucks, but they’re not _dead_.”

“Mutants sometimes have to learn to build their own families,” Charles said. “I know they’re not dead, but they are not accepting of you either.”

She shrugged.

            Sensing her discomfort, he changed the subject abruptly. “Hannah, it seems that the nature of your power is electrical. I suspect that you have control over electrical impulses.”

“That’s…that’s what Jean said, I think,” Hannah recalled, although her time on the jet was rather fuzzy when she tried to picture it.

“Jean told me about her suspicions. And I happen to agree. It’s the most appropriate explanation.”

“Does this mean I can stay? That I won’t hurt anyone else?” she asked. They reached a large panel, which slid open with a gesture from the Professor. Hannah stepped back, momentarily forgetting her questions, shoulders tensing at the sight of the tiny space.

 “It’s alright, Hannah. We’re just going up a floor. And I’m not kicking you out. We don’t turn students away.”

She let out her breath and followed him stiffly into the small space. He made another gesture and the doors slid shut.

            The elevator rose quickly and Hannah was all too glad to exit into a thoroughly different looking hall-way. It was in complete contrast to the sleek metal of the one below. The walls were rich, dark wooden paneling, and small tables with lush looking potted plants on them dotted the length of the corridor at regular intervals.

“Are there any other aspects to your gift, Hannah?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Have you noticed any other abilities?”

“I’ve only had my…powers…for three days. I’m still getting used to it.”

“Think for just a moment, besides the outward manifestations, the sparks, is there anything else?”

            She thought back to the humming, and realized that it hadn’t actually gone away. Each time they passed a light fixture, it increased. She wanted to reach out and touch the bulbs, feel the energy against her skin. Instead, she turned to look into his face.

“I think the light bulbs are singing to me,” she answered tentatively.

“Ah. That’s very interesting Hannah. Perhaps you are seeking out the electricity that powers them, trying to absorb it.”

            Suddenly, the happy noises of children rushed at them as they moved away from the elevator. Hannah could tell without asking that this place was not empty. She wondered how many of the students were her age, though.

“There are several students around sixteen,” the Professor said. She wanted to brush it off as a coincidence, but the glance he sent her way told her he was answering her question.

“Perhaps I should explain myself,” he continued on when Hannah stopped, bewildered. “I am a telepath. I can read minds.”

“Oh!” she said, eyes wide. Could he hear everything she thought? Could he dig into her brain and pull out secrets? Did she have any secrets she wanted to hide from him?

“Don’t worry, Hannah. Unless I try, I only pick up surface thoughts, and I try very hard not to violate anyone’s right to privacy,” he said.

            It was a small comfort, but it allowed Hannah to keep walking. She was inclined to believe him. For whatever reason, she was getting comfortable trusting this complete stranger. The thought rankled her, but she was also glad she wasn’t in a state of agitation, either.

            Professor Xavier’s office was several doors down from the elevator. He turned towards its large double doors, gesturing for her to enter alongside him. The office wasn’t empty. Inside were her three rescuers, along with a woman with bright white hair and dark brown skin. Their eyes followed her entrance.

“You’ve met Jean and the boys, correct?” the Professor asked. Hannah nodded at the familiar faces. “This is Ororo,” he indicated the white-haired young woman.

“Hello,” she greeted the woman, who gave a warm, kind smile in return.

“These are you teachers, along with myself. Here at the Institute we try our hardest to make sure you’re educated to the best of our abilities. Class sizes are small, and we try to foster positive relationships between teacher and student,” the Professor said.

“Calm down, Chuck. She’s already here. No need to sell her on it,” Logan snarked.

Sending him a quelling look, although not an unamused one, Charles continued, “You’re allowed to refer to faculty members by their first names, if you wish.”

“Most don’t, though,” Ororo said, smiling wryly.

“Ororo is referring to the...nicknames we’ve all gathered,” Charles said.

“Nicknames?”

“Mutants, we like to christen each other. Sort of a rite of passage, when you get one. And sometimes it helps to keep normal people from learning your real name,” Scott explained. “I’m called Cyclops. Because of the visor. And, I’ve got...laser eyes.”

“What?” she asked. What the fuck, was what she actually wanted to ask, but these were supposed to be her teachers, and it felt odd cursing in front of them.

“His eyes shoot...beams of light that can destroy things.”

“Hence the glasses.” Scott shrugged.

            She nodded. Even though she already knew what it meant, she was just fucking baffled that it was real. It was one thing seeing people with abilities on the news. It was completely bizarre to actually meet them.

“I am called Storm,” Ororo said. “I can control the weather.”

Well, that made sense. Of course she did. Because why not.

“Wolverine,” Logan growled out simply. For the claws, she added in her mind. And probably his manners.

“I’m just Jean,” she laughed. “No codename.”

“Will I be getting a new name?” Hannah asked. She didn't think Hannah struck her as especially unique. It definitely didn't sound like the name of a mutant. She wouldn't _hate_ a new name. She could just imagine how angry her mother would be if she found out Hannah had changed her name. She was named after her stingy old Aunt Hannah, the one who always used to pinch her cheeks at family gatherings.

“You could give yourself a new name,” Jane suggested.

She thought for a moment, casting her mind out. Professor Xavier had said her powers involved electricity.

Maybe she’d wait to rename herself. She didn’t want to call herself something stupid.

“Well, you have all the time in the world to think about it,” Jean said.

“In the meantime, I’m sure you’d like to meet some of your classmates,” Professor Xavier said.

 

            By the middle of the day, Hannah was sure she’d met everyone in the mansion. Thankfully, none of them expected her to remember them perfectly. Still, the last group she was introduced to, the other students around her age, were easy to remember. The adults had left her to pass time with them in the recreation room until dinner was served.

            There was Jubilee, a fine-boned girl dressed in vibrant colors who explained that she could create fireworks. Then there was Kitty, a pretty brunette nicknamed Shadowcat, who could walk through walls. And Piotr, who Kitty introduced as her boyfriend, large and well-muscled, whose skin could turn to solid, shiny metal in an instant. He was called Colossus. Lorna, or Polaris, with green hair and the ability to control metal and fly. Bobby Drake, called Iceman, gave her a brief demonstration. Hannah understood that that was a fairly straightforward nickname. The girl sitting beside him on the couch was pretty and curvaceous, with brown hair and white streaks that framed her face. Rogue didn't offer up her real name, or her powers, so Hannah didn't ask.

            She was introduced to John last. Bobby jokingly called him St. John, but Kitty explained that he was actually affectionately called Pyro, for his ability to control fire. He smiled at her from the corner of the rec room, tossing a small square of metal from one hand to the other.

            The barrage of strange, fantastic abilities was still surreal, but meeting new people her age was not. She hadn’t been popular at her old school, per se, but she hoped at least some of her friends would be wondering where she was come Monday morning.

“So, like, what’s with the get-up?” Kitty asked, as soon as the room had settled. All 14 eyes fell to take in what she was wearing. She had the sudden desire to sink into the floor. What she wouldn’t give to have Kitty’s power.

“Do you mean my clothing?”

“Yeah, it’s…a lot of black. Are you a goth?” Jubilee asked, eyes sparkling.

“That’s cool, by the way. Rogue’s goth,” Kitty assured her.

“We have a kid here who was almost sacrificed by a cult. They thought he was a God,” Bobby said. “We’re not judgey here.”

“These are just my clothes.”

“Are the really warm? They look, like, way too warm,” Kitty professed. The girl seemed inclined to dramatics. Hannah liked the way she talked with her hands.

“They can be. My parents are pretty strict about clothes.” Hannah responded eagerly. She was always happy to complain about the layers she was required to wear to meet her parent’s ridiculous standards of propriety. “I just grabbed everything that would fit into my bag. I have like three pairs of socks right now.”

“Oh! Jubes, do you think we could, like, convince the Professor to let us take her shopping?” Kitty exclaimed, clapping her hands together excitedly.

“Is that all you think about?” Bobby cried. “We met her five minutes ago!”

“Shut up, Bobby,” Rogue scolded, but she was smiling.

“We’ve never done a good old-fashioned makeover before,” Kitty complained.

“Kitty, don't be mean!” Lorna cried.

“I’m not! I’m not saying she looks bad, but she could use more clothes!”

            And Hannah was inclined to believe her. Bluntness just seemed to be in her nature. “I would love to get new stuff,” she admitted. Anything to bridge the chasm of difference between her and these girls with their shiny hair and fresh faced beauty.  

“I’ll go ask the Professor,” Jubilee announced, bouncing up from her seat.

“Hey, like, wait for me!” Kitty called as her friend dashed out into the hall. Without another word, Kitty jumped up after her, phasing right through the wall.

“Sorry about them,” Rogue said in her twangy voice. “But shopping will be fun. I’d love to get out of the mansion for a while.”

“I’ve been on house arrest for the last couple of days, I couldn’t agree more. My parents…freaked a little bit. I uh…I killed the cat,” she explained, feeling uncomfortable saying it. Maybe Ms. Ginger hadn’t deserved it _so_ much.

“That’s shitty,” John said, speaking for the first time since she’d entered the room. The others shot him reproachful glares, but Hannah couldn't hold in a chuckle. It was true, firstly, and such an irreverent way to talk it.

“So, now we got the origin story out of the way, what can you do?” he asked.

Hannah shrugged. “I- well, Professor Xavier says I can control electrical impulses. It’s an active power. He said it could be used offensively.”

He’d told her that in the hallway on the way to the rec room.

“Really? Can you show us?” Piotr asked, looking intrigued. He didn’t talk much, that Hannah had gathered, but he hadn’t hesitated to ask.

“I can’t control it yet. And I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Eh, you’ll be fine,” John dismissed her worry easily. Hannah frowned, but Bobby and Lorna nodded in agreement with him.

Rogue looked concerned, though. “I don’t think y’all should be doin’ this,” she warned them.

“Yeah, I’m not…” she began, ready to agree heartily with Rogue

“Brave enough?” John interrupted. “Go on, show us what you got!”

“We really should be doing this in the Danger Room,” Rogue complained one last time. But even she looked curious to see just what Hannah was capable of.

            Hannah released a sigh, standing from her seat and inching away from their circle of bodies just waiting for a shock. Closing her eyes, she called out the soft buzzing of the air, leant to her by the small white sockets in the halls. She knew this was electricity. It grew louder in her ears until soon it was all she heard. She opened her eyes. They were all staring at her in surprise. Hannah looked down at herself.

            Slivers of blue light skittered over her body, lashed over her arms and legs and arced up to her head. It brought a smile to her face. It felt, when it touched bare skin, like the lick of a friendly dog. She could _control_ this.

Reaching out with a single finger, Hannah concentrated on the television set. She screen flickered for a few moments and then held, turning black in a burst of static.

The surge of joy that she felt at that seemed to be the end of any control.

An arc escaped her attention, and it was all Piotr could do to jump in front of Lorna and shift into a metal statue of himself.

His body jerked.

Hannah snatched her arm to herself, pushing the siren song of electricity away. The sparks fizzled out immediately.

“Did I hurt you?” she asked

“Uh,” he shook his head like a dog, breathing heavily and climbing back onto the couch, “Yes, but I’m fine. That was- that was high voltage, wasn’t it?” he finally managed. “Probably would have fried Polaris.”

Maybe she’d kept from killing him because she’d only been playing? Did it respond to her intentions?

“That was amazing,” John exclaimed. She turned to stare at him, grinning despite herself.

“When can I do more of that?”

\---

It turned out later that she wouldn’t be able to exercise her powers for another week. After some begging from Jubilee and Kitty, the Professor acquiesced to one short trip into the city proper for a, as Kitty put it “retail therapy/ group bonding sesh.”

Jean and Ororo were tasked with escorting the girls on their trip, and asked not to spend too much money this time, something that signaled to Hannah that this was not the first of these trips. It probably wouldn’t be the last, either.

She was grateful for the company of girls her own age, for the almost normal way they spoke and acted, even if she knew the entire time that they were powerful mutants with abilities she hadn’t even gotten to witness yet.

Rogue was the closest in size to Hannah, so the girl borrowed a long sleeved t-shirt and rewore her only pair of jeans. It felt insanely normal to have Jean and Ororo drive the gaggle of girls the short hike to the nearest outlet mall, even though she was among total strangers. Hannah was baffled at how comfortable she felt.

The girls rushed her around the stores, making her buy at least something from at almost every store, some things she knew she was never going to wear. By the end of it they had a veritable wardrobe to take back to the mansion.

“Can we grab something from the food court?” Lorna asked as Ororo informed the girls that they’d sacrificed enough of the afternoon to the gods of retail.

“Can we go to the arcade?” Jubilee interjected, eyes brimming with excitement. Ororo and Jean shared a glance between the two of them.

“If we let you into the arcade, we’re never getting you out,” Jean finally said, smiling slightly at the girl. Jubilee’s shoulder’s slumped instantly. “But I think we can eat before we leave.”

The girls all brightened at that, moving instantly towards the smell of fried food. Jean and Ororo followed after, grinning.

Hannah sat between Jubilee and Rogue as she ate mediocre mall pizza. But this felt like the best meal she’d had in years. True, she’d just met these girls, and fuck if Hannah wasn’t naturally awkward, but something about them felt…kindred. The fact was, teenage girls were teenage girls wherever they lived, and Hannah could almost ignore her worries about the powers she’d only recently discovered.

Damned be it, but she was hopeful.

 

When they returned to the school, Hannah got her first look at the classes she’d been assigned. Professor X had promised her there’d be little to no shift in curriculum, the School was a certified place of education, and she’d be well-prepared for college, but as she skimmed over literature and statistics and Mutant Biology, her eyes landed on the last class on the list.

Danger Room Training.

Needless to say, it was a pretty compelling thing to call it. The Danger Room. The girls had explained it was like gym class for their powers, and she couldn’t help but anticipate what that might mean for her.

Her first full day of classes came about three days after her shopping excursion, five days after she’d arrived, and it landed on a Friday, the only day she wasn’t scheduled in the Danger Room. It was disappointing, for sure, but then, maybe it was for the better.

“Looks like you have M & E with Kitty,” Rogue commented, tucking the white strands of hair on either side of her face behind her ears as she peered down at Hannah’s schedule over the breakfast table.

The small cafeteria they all ate in was crowded with children all preparing for the day, and the older kids claimed a table right in the center of the chaos. Chaos that Hannah still marveled at. The vast range of children in the mansion always blew her mind. There was the little girl with a short coat of fur over her body and cat like eyes, and the boy with the long, purple hair. Hannah was from a small town with a majority white population. Last week, if you’d told her friends an Asian girl had moved to town, it would have been a shock. This was on a whole other level.

“Oh, fun!” Kitty exclaimed. “It’s fun, Han, the Professor teaches it.”

“Fun’s a bit of a stretch,” Rogue quipped. “Chuck can be long-winded.”

As soon as the words left her mouth she blushed, glancing around at the rest of the table.

“Look who let a little bit of Logan slip out,” John joked.

Hannah stared at Rogue for a moment, puzzled, before the table picked up on her confusion.

“Oh- uh…want me to tell her or-“

“Maybe we should-“

“It’s alright,” Rogue finally said. “She’ll find out sooner or later anyway.”

“What’s wrong?” Hannah asked. She felt like she’d stepped in something without even saying a word. Great feeling.

“I never told you my power,” Rogue reminded her. Hannah nodded. She’d just assumed Rogue didn’t like to talk about. It hadn’t felt like it was her business anyway. “That’s because its-“

“A doozy,” Kitty butted in. She shot Rogue an apologetic glance as soon as she said it, though, wincing.

“I take other people’s powers when I touch ‘em,” Rogue explained, color rising even higher on her pale cheeks. “It hurts ‘em too. It’s why I wear the gloves.”

“Oh.”

“She’s gonna learn to control it, though,” Bobby explained, resting his fully clothed arm gently over Rogue’s fully clothed shoulder. As if it might make that clear. As if it was a risk.

“She sure is!” Kitty enthused. “Till then though, she’s still a big help. Knocks people out faster than Piotr!”

Piotr grumbled at that, showing off his metal fist to the table mock-threateningly.

“So the Logan thing?” Hannah prompted.

“I accidentally touched Logan. Sometimes I- sometimes I hear his voice in my head. I remember things that he remembered. I can’t read his mind or nuthin’ but, I could heal really fast for a while.”

Hannah stared at her new friend for a moment. She’d felt so terrified, that first night, when she realized that her touch could be dangerous. She couldn’t imagine what that might feel like to fear that forever, or at least for the foreseeable future.

She didn’t know what to say for a long time, but finally, she shrugged. “I already knew the Professor was a talker. He’s not exactly subtle about it.”

Sometimes it was best to ignore stuff.  

“Moral and Ethics isn’t bad, though,” Kitty finally said, taking Hannah’s cue. “Xavier makes it really engaging.”

“I never liked it,” John countered, leaning back in his chair.

“Of course you didn’t. If you had your way, we’d be using our powers 24/7 for everything we could think of,” Bobby pointed out, voice sour.

John only shrugged.

Hannah didn’t really understand the issue with that. Sure, they shouldn’t have the license to kill anyone who pissed them off, but they’d gained these powers for _some_ reason, hadn’t they? Who had the right to tell them they couldn’t use them?

She didn’t say any of this, though, because if she’d recognized anything about the school, it was that Professor Xavier’s word was gospel, except to a few choice students, John being the loudest among them.

“You have Brit-Lit with me,” Rogue pointed out, after a few seconds more of tense silence. “And biology.”

“Oh, I hated biology,” Bobby exclaimed, shooting both of them sympathetic looks.

“It’s alright,” Rogue responded easily, leaning against his shoulder and showing off the rest of the schedule.

“Looks like Xavier put you into our training sessions,” Lorna noticed, looking a bit surprised at this piece of information. “Odd choice.”

“Really?”

“Not today, ‘cause its Friday, but yeah, these are our days.”

“Maybe that’s just a place holder?” Kitty suggested.

“Or you’re getting some one on one with good old Logan,” Jubilee joked. “God, if that’s the case, I feel for you.”

Hannah frowned at that. For sure, she understood the stress that private lessons with Logan could bring. He was a particularly grumpy man, and she couldn’t really picture him being a good teacher. She hoped that wasn’t the case. She also didn’t understand how he’d be able to help her with her powers. His mutation seemed to be of a much more… _physical_ nature.

Before she could point any of that out, though, the call for classes to start rippled through the cafeteria. She had a few notebooks stuffed into a backpack she’d been given by Jubilee, and a whole mess of pens, so she wasn’t unprepared, but Hannah was still nervous. This was…a new animal.

“You ready for some Chaucer, sugar?” Rogue asked, sidling up to her as they filed out of the cafeteria. Hannah offered a smile in reply.


	2. Chapter 2

“I hate biology,” Hannah groaned. She hadn’t minded Jean Grey when she’d first met her, but the woman was _way_ too into it.

Rogue smirked. “Just wait until we get to genetics.”

The pair of them were walking side by side down the wide corridor away from their Biology class. It was their last class of the day, and Rogue was leading her down to the rec room.

“So how was your first day!” Kitty exclaimed, rushing forward to take a place on Hannah’s other side. Jubilee came up behind her, smiling at Kitty’s enthusiasm.

“It was good. It was surprisingly normal.”

“And you liked M&E? It was really good today!”

“It _was_ good. I’ve never taken a philosophy class before.”

“Do you wanna go over the reading together?” Kitty asked. Hannah nodded readily.

“You girls headed to the rec room?” Bobby called out from further down the hall.

“Ah come on! It’s our turn with the tv!” a younger girl to his right complained. She was bright pink. Hannah tried not to be shocked.

“Clarice-“ Kitty began, but the girl only grinned. A small cracking sound travelled down the hallway and suddenly a swirling pink circle appeared before the girl. Clarice was gone in a blink of the eye.

“Damn,” Jubilee muttered. “Guess we can’t watch Jeopardy today.”

“That’s not fair,” Bobby complained as the girls caught up to where he was standing.

“Shoulda frozen her,” Rogue joked.

“Maybe Piotr is already down there?” Kitty suggested hopefully, but as soon as the rounded the corner, they were met with the unwelcome sight of Piotr coming out of the rec room, looking a bit confused.

“Clarice has the remote,” he explained. “I think she threatened me.”

Hannah laughed. “Scared of a little girl?” she asked. It seemed ridiculous, considering just how large he was.

“We don’t wanna cross Clarice,” he warned. His eyes twinkled with amusement, but the message was still clear.

“That’s life at the mansion,” Bobby exclaimed, spreading his arms wide, “even the seventh graders can kill you!”

“Wanna go to the lake?” Kitty suggested.

“Not so fast.” Wolverine was coming down the hall at a leisurely pace, face frozen in his perpetual scowl as he approached them.

“Logan? What’s up?” Rogue asked offering the older man a bright smile.

“Gettin’ Hannah. Training.”

The group all turned their eyes on her, most of them with sympathy.

“Uh…my schedule says-“

“Chuck wants to help you with your powers,” he answered simply. He looked a bit annoyed at being an errand boy.

“Oh, so…not with you?” she asked, trying hard not to sound too relieved. Because _hell_ , she was. Rogue tried to convince everyone that Logan wasn’t as bad as he seemed, but he still acted scary.

“What’ll I teach ya, Sparky?” he gruffed, but he didn’t seem particularly irritated at her relief. In fact, he seemed a bit amused. “Chucks waiting for you in the Danger Room. Need a guide?”

“I can take her,” Rogue offered. “Thanks Logan.”

He nodded. “Now I gotta go round the sixth graders up.”

“Oh yeah?” Bobby asked. “Want some help?”

Logan shrugged.

“See ya later Rogue,” Bobby said as Logan continued down the hall without another word and the younger boy hurried to keep up. “Good luck Hannah.”

The rest of them all offered similar farewells, and Kitty quickly shifted through the corridor wall into the Rec Room. Piotr was close behind.

“I’d better keep her from bullying the younger kids into giving her the remote,” he told them with a harried smile.

 

Rogue had wanted to stay when they arrived at the Danger Room, and Hannah wanted her to as well, but the Professor had politely excused the other girl with a kind smile.

Hannah felt uncomfortable in the large metal arena like room. The lights sent a hum through her, and it was almost pleasant, but the knowledge of what would be happening soon made her hair stand on end.

She wanted to be able to control her powers, but she was still fearful of it. So much of her childhood had been her parents taking control away from her. Her mother and father didn’t let her make choices. Instead, she was expected to follow their plan, and be friends with their friend’s kids, and do the after school activities expected of her. Now she had actual power, and the idea of being in control of it was at once heady and terrifying.

The Professor obviously sensed all of this, and the look he gave her was one of understanding. She could tell he _got_ that. And she doubted it was a very unique experience. Most mutants were probably afraid of the power they wielded. She wasn’t alone.

“It’s good you recognize that, Hannah. I’m glad you don’t feel isolated.”

“I-I know everyone else at this school has had a shit time of it,” she admitted, wincing at the curse, but she guessed correctly that the Professor would ignore the slip up.

“We all face issues when our power manifest themselves. But everyone finds a different way of handling it. I’d like, today, if we could try to find your way.”

“I’d like that,” she told him.

“I know that the Danger Room can be a bit intimidating the first time you enter, but worry not. I won’t be putting you through any simulations just yet. I just thought it would be the best place for you to manifest your powers.”

She looked at his chair, all the metal used to make it, and frowned. “Isn’t that dangerous? What if you get hurt?”

“I’ll be in the observation bay. If you don’t mind?” he indicated with his head a small elevator that seemed to lead up to a large balcony lit from the inside with thick glass surrounding all sides. She relaxed a bit at the sight.

“Yeah, that’s better.”

With a nod, her retreated from her and wheeled himself over to the elevator, entering with a wave of his hand. After he’d risen far above her and wheeled himself close to the windows, Professor Xavier’s voice came through speakers Hannah couldn’t see, resounding through the large metal room.

“Hannah, I’ll ask this beforehand, but I’d like your permission to enter you mind now.”

“Alright,” she breathed. Then, louder because she wasn’t sure if he could hear her, “Okay!”

 _“Thank you,”_ he said, but this time, his voice sounded from inside of her head.

It was freaky, to say the least, not least because she’d been expecting something a little bit different. His presence wasn’t invasive, like she imagined. Instead it reminded her of the feeling you get when steps up behind you and hovers. Not unpleasant, but it made her skin prickle.

_“Can you access your power now, Hannah?”_

She nodded, realizing as soon as she’d done it that it was redundant. He could read her thoughts. He’d probably read that thought as well. A wave of amusement washed over her, urging a smile from her. He probably dealt with this a lot.

 _“It’s quite alright, Hannah,”_ he assured her _. “Go on.”_

Hannah breathed deeply, imagining calling the humming energy around her like a warm blanket. She smiled when the familiar buzz of the electricity skittered over her skin, ignoring the small rush of fear she felt. She was safe here. No one around for her to hurt, no electronics to fool around with. Just her and the sparks.

It surprised her how fondly she thought of her power, after only a few days of having it. The energy felt like a friend, somehow. Thoughts of her first experiences with it, while traumatizing, only reinforced that idea. It had been keeping her safe.

 _“You feel comfortable with it?”_ he asked. She tried to gather her thoughts together to answer him, but the effort seemed to be quite enough. _“That’s good, Hannah. Some students struggle with the power they wield. It makes accessing it difficult.”_

            She turned her attention back to her powers after she felt the energy skitter a little further away from her. It felt like it wanted to _go_ somewhere.

 _“That makes sense, dear. Why don’t you try to release it in a controlled manner?”_ the Professor suggest.

 

Hannah didn’t even know how to start with that. It was too wild for control. It wanted to leap and bound, not walk. Still, the idea intrigued her, so, closing her eyes, she pictured the energy she’d amassed as a ball of crackling electricity and envisioned sending out a tendril towards the ground. Nothing happened. She glanced down at her hands, finding them empty. The air around her still danced with electricity, the sparks refusing to attend to her wishes. She huffed. This wasn’t gonna be a walk in the park.

 

The next few weeks were some of the best in Hannah’s life. She spent as much time with her friends- she was comfortable calling them that now- as possible, whenever she wasn’t studying or working on her powers. After the first week of frustration, the Professor had given her a bit of a breather in order to “assess her relationship with her abilities”. She’d gained a tighter sense of the energy, but still couldn’t control what it did. It was like a puppy. It came when called, but didn’t know any tricks yet.

            But ever without control, Hannah felt herself relaxing in her new environment. She had more choices now than she’ ever had before. Sometimes she’d wake up in the morning and be overwhelmed just by the prospect of getting dressed. Her mother wasn’t there anymore to pick out her outfits, to veto a shirt that she deemed too tight, to shake her head vehemently at a pair of skin tight jeans. Hannah wore whatever she wanted, and it felt amazing. Kitty was also taking the time to guide her through the trials and tribulations of makeup, although Hannah hadn’t attempted anything beyond some mascara in the weeks she’d been at Xavier’s.

            She felt freer now than she ever had at home.

            She also had more free time, no longer straining under the massive amount of studying and after school activities her parents had expected from her. There was no violin practice to attend, or tennis lessons, or speech and debate club. Hannah used this free time to plumb the depths of her mind, to analyze the way her powers felt when she used them.

It was almost second nature, after a month of being at the Institute, to feel the subtle welling of energy where it started in her chest, right above her heart. The skin on her chest and face flushing as the sparks danced along her skin. Hannah was able to summon her power to her without thought, although at this point, it was all she could due. But she knew where it came from, and one night, hours after she’d meant to fall asleep, it seemed to click.

She was sitting outside with Kitty, lounging around in the lukewarm September sun when she called her sparks to her, bored with the silence, wanting to watch them dance through the air. She’d warned Kitty of course, who had dutiful scooted a few feet away on the grass, watching with a bit of passive interest.

It was then that the knowledge of how to control its shape gained on her. She jumped up, wincing when the action shot a few weak lines of miniature lightning into the air around her. She needed to bring it more than skin deep! Of course.

Hannah laughed at how simple it was. She’d been calling the sparks to her and allowing them to barely skim her body. She hadn’t welcomed them in further. Without a word to Kitty, she took off towards the danger room, calling out to the Professor with her thoughts, hoping it wasn’t especially busy.

By the time she’d made it to the underground arena, the Professor was waiting for her, smiling delightedly at her excited explanation. They both rushed into the room, and she didn’t wait another second to demonstrate her new discovery.

Hannah called the sparks easily, and instead of simply leaving it at that, she tried pulling them deeper, tried drawing the feeling, like bees buzzing just under her skin further. She felt the imaginary bees begin traveling throughout her body, felt them brush at her bones, at her lungs, and was surprised at how good it felt. It didn’t hurt, like she’d half feared. No, it was amazing.

She imagined, once again, that the energy whispering through her body was a ball of writhing lightning in her hands. The she sent it out, aiming close, aiming away from the Professor. She pushed with her mind and with her hands. The energy dimmed a bit in her mind’s eye, so she looked down. In her hands was a slightly smaller mass of energy than she had picked up, and there was a small wring of singed metal right before her.

She turned, grinning, up to the Professor. “I did it!” she shouted.

“Indeed you did, Hannah. You’re making amazing progress. And I think I’ve gathered a little more information about the nature of your power.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I first assumed your powers were more internal. I thought your harnessing of electricity was like Bobby’s production of ice. But the energy you wield is drawn from the world around you. In the presence of electronics, it seems you draw from them, but the incident in the park tells me you can gather it from the air as well.”

She nodded for him to continue when he paused, seemingly in thought.

“In that case, you must be drawing only a fraction of the energy you can from these lights. Otherwise, I’d assume they would blow out. Perhaps…”

“What?” she pressed.

“I’ll need to ponder this, Hannah, but you’ve done very well today. I’d like you to meet with me after your classes on the days you do not have a Danger Room session scheduled. Are you amenable to that?” he asked.

She nodded quickly. “But I can’t join the others in the Danger Room, can I? I can’t really control this yet.”

“I’d have to disagree with you. You have shown remarkable control, Hannah. But, up until you feel comfortable, I’m happy to replace Danger Room sessions with private sessions.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, my dear. Now, I believe Kitty has gained control of the remote control during your journey down here. Perhaps you’d like to join them in their tv time?”

She smiled. “Sure thing. Thank you Professor!”

 

Hannah now had a knack for turning on and off lights with a flick of a finger, something everyone else found much more annoying than she did. Rogue found it specifically disheartening, because as roommates, she had a preference for keeping the light on long into the night, and Hannah wasn’t shy about turning it off without warning.

It had been a simple thing, really, once she knew how to control the electricity in her body to figure out how to find it in the wiring and the electronics around her. And then it had been even easier to figure out how to disrupt the circuit, to turn something off, or release the flow or energy and turn something on.

The Professor assured her that even more finesse would only come with time, and she was content to sit back and try a few things out.

Her normal classes went just as well. Hannah had always done well in school. For all that she had a habit of second guessing herself, she tested really well. Plus, the Mansion wasn’t that different from anywhere else. It was just way, way more fun.

It was only in her second month there that she hit a snag. It was after one of her session with the Professor, and he had descended from the elevator to walk back up to the first floor with when he told her she’ be joining her age-group in the Danger Room.

“I believe you’re well equipped now, Hannah, and the Danger Room will help you to develop defensive skills. Your powers can be used as more than simply an exercise in long distance light-switching.”

“I don’t want to use my powers against someone else again,” Hannah told him. She wanted to keep this feeling of accomplishment. Hannah didn’t want to be afraid of herself.

“The Danger Room is a safe environment, Hannah, no matter how the name contradicts that fact,” the Professor told her, voice gentle. “I do not want to force you into anything, but these lessons are the safest way for you to learn to defend yourself. We live in a world that hate and fears us, my dear. You’ll need these skills.”

“I-“ she took a deep breath, surprised at the sudden pricking of tears at the corners of her eyes. “I understand, Professor but…I just got comfortable with this. I don’t want to hurt my friends.”

“You won’t dear. You’ll be well supervised.”

She nodded. “Alright, Professor.”

But no matter what she told him, it wasn’t truly alright. She was _scared_. She shielded the feeling, walling it up and pushing it away from the Professor’s presence in her head. He’d taught her how to do that on their second day. She’d never had to put the skill to use before. His face fell when he realized what she was doing, but she didn’t open her thoughts up to him again that day.

            After dinner that day, while she lounged on the sitting room couch with Lorna and Kitty, she voiced her fears to the group.

“The Professor’s decided I can join you guys in the Danger Room,” she told them, voice small. Kitty sat up immediately, eyes wide and shoulders bouncing with excitement.

“Really?”

Hannah nodded.

“That’s amazing!” she shouted, bouncing down the couch to hug her. Hannah stiffened under the touch, but couldn’t help the small amused smile. Kitty was like a puppy sometimes, the way things set her off in a ball of long hair and excitement and hugs.

“That is cool,” John commented from the arm chair, eyebrow raised at her. “Unless it isn’t.”

“What’s that ‘sposed to mean?” Rogue asked. “Hannah’s gotten real good with her powers.”

“She doesn’t look really happy, s’all I’m saying,” John shrugged.

“I just…it’s freaky. I don’t wanna go around electrocuting people,” Hannah admitted. “I know it makes sense to get even better with my powers. Doesn’t make it any less daunting.”

“You’re tellin’ me,” Rogue scoffed. “It’s scary at first, but once you meet Magneto, you’ll jump at the chance,” she warned.

“Magneto?”

“Shit- she doesn’t-“

“Of course she doesn’t,” Bobby cut in before John could continue. “Magneto was on the news but Rogue and the X-Men weren’t.”

Hannah had learned about the alternate identities the teachers took on as the X-Men. She knew about the jet, and the training, but she hadn’t realized they’d been deployed previously. She’d always just assumed that they were what the Professor referred to them as: a preventative measure, a safeguard.

“Magneto…he’s the mutant supremacist, right? Rogue you _met_ him?”

“Yeah. He uh…tried to make me a battery for his damn mutant machine,” Rogue said, looking a bit uncomfortable with this line of questioning, but Hannah didn’t really care right now.

“I thought he was in prison And what the hell is a mutant machine?”

“He is. That doesn’t mean he always will be though,” John said. “Guys slippery.”

“He tried to turn a bunch of people into mutants,” Bobby told her.

“Do you really think we might face him?”

“Well,” Kitty began, “the professor hasn’t made the offer yet, but we’ve all made plans to stay on at the mansion after we graduate. All of us want to help Xavier to protect people. Magneto’s a dangerous man, and if he does get out-“

“We wanna help stop him,” Bobby finished.

“You’re gonna be X-Men?” she asked.

Bobby nodded. “It’s the least we can do. The Professor has done so much for us. We wanna pay him back.”

“Some of us do,” John shot back.

“Shut up John. We’ve all heard the argument-“

“She hasn’t,” John pointed out, nodding towards Hannah. He looked grim.

“What argument?”

“Xavier spends too much time talking about peace and respecting others. He harps on about not hurting humans, but all they do is _shit_ on us. Why should we help them?” John asked. “Why should we kill ourselves stopping Magneto from knocking some of them down a few pegs.”

“Magneto’s a murderer and a maniac,” Rogue snapped. “He sacrifices people for the “greater good” all the time. He doesn’t care about protecting mutants. He just wants _power_.”

“I’m not saying I wanna turn traitor,” John said, raising his hands in surrender. “I’m just saying, maybe we should be a bit more proactive about saving mutants. When I’m an X-Man, I don’t intend to let people suffer.”

“I just-“

“That’s what this is about, Hannah,” John said, disregarding her words with a casual gesture, “this is about protecting other mutants. You want to protect the kids in the mansion right? From anyone who comes to hurt them?”

“He’s right about that,” Bobby agreed. “That’s what being an X-Man is.”

“He’s not asking her to be an X-Man,” Rogue said.

“But he sorta is though,” Kitty responded. “Or at least, he’s asking her to prepare for it.”

Hannah turned away from the group of them, staring down at her arms, at her hands, and thought about the death they were capable of dealing. Maybe she could hurt someone, but she could help someone too. Maybe, one day, she could save a teenage girl trapped in a situation like her own. Maybe one day her powers could do more than turn the lights on and off.

“Maybe it won’t be so bad,” she admitted after a few minutes of thought.

“See ya on Monday,” John said, clapping as he drew himself out of the arm chair. “Bring your best shit.”

“Oh, do ya think the Professor’ll let us play power tag, for her first day?” Rogue asked.

“Power tag?” she was almost too afraid to ask.

“You’ll see.”

\---

Power tag was the worst thing ever thought up in the nightmares of a mother who dreamed about poor poor children being subjected to particularly sadistic gym class games. Sure, it was fun if you were kids, but it was terrifying to the casual observer.

Hannah watched with dawning horror as Bobby dodged a huge piece of cement that had sailed from Piotr’s titanium grip at top speed. The metal boy was intimidating when seen in action, all huge, shiny, hulking muscles, but it hadn’t occurred to her that all that extra weight made him easy to outmaneuver. The others were dancing circles around him, and she felt bad for him.

Still, until he tagged someone, there was no escape.

“Come on Colossus, pick up the pace!” Scott shouted from the side lines.

“Trying!” Piotr shot back, as he aimed a steel beam at Kitty’s ankles. The girl stared down at the beam as it phased right through her legs. “Nice try hunk-a-junk!”

“Ignore her, Colossus, focus. Don’t ignore speed just because you’re big. Think fast.”

            Hannah thought it was all a little unfair. The whole point of this was to break Piotr out of his sit and swipe strategy, relying too much on his superior size and strength, but those were his _strengths_. All this was doing was making it impossible for him to win. That is, until Jubilee stumbled over a fallen brick wall while trying to creep out of Piotr’s line of sight.

            He spotted her before she could fully escape, and with a well-placed hit he had her on her back. She let out a sharp _oof_ when he hit her, but Hannah could tell he hadn’t gone all in.

“Alright, Jubilee, you’re it.”

Jubilee got to her feet with a whine and stomped her foot. “I thought we were supposed to work as a team during Power Tag. Kitty should have helped me out.”

“You are supposed to work as a team, Jubilee. But where were you when Bobby could have used a distraction?” Scott asked, looking stern even behind his visor.

“Tryna not to get stomped by the tin man!” she snapped.

“You’re it, Jubilee,” Scott repeated instead of to responding to her snark. “Hannah, why don’t you jump on in.”

“Me?” she asked, voce pitching up with fear.

“Yeah, you.”

“Alright,” she squeaked.

Moving away from the corner she’d holed up in the watch, Hannah took an unsure place beside Rogue, feeling safest next to her friend than anyone else.

“Don’t worry, sugar. It’s fun, I swear,” Rogue assured her, patting her on the shoulder.

Hannah shrugged her shoulders, trying in vain to loosen up her muscles and get ready to dodge. She’d never exactly been big on physical activity, and the one piece they all had to wear, while breathable, made her a little self-conscious.

“I’m ready,” she said, even if she didn’t feel that way.

“Let’s go!” Scott shouted. With the signal, Jubilee lifted her arms and started popping off fireworks. Jubes had put on little light shows before, but Hannah had never seen anything like these. The lights made it hard to see, to the point where all she was doing was running around like a headless chicken.

“Come on Jubes, you’re no fun,” Kitty cried out from somewhere to Hannah’s left, but she couldn’t make the other girl out. The sound of Jubes’s laughter close to her elbow sent Hannah off running away, but just as she felt she was getting away, the girl appeared to her right.

“Come on!” Rogue shouted, tugging Hannah to safety, just trying to keep moving. “There’s no hope when she pops ‘em off like this!”

“Hold up!” Hannah shouted. Taking a deep breath, Hannah cast her senses out towards the bright lights above them, gathering up the electricity keeping them lit. She tugged, and felt the power cut off, casting the room in darkness for just a second before Jubilee’s fireworks began again. This time though, the fireworks were helpful, lighting the way.

“Thanks Hannah!” Kitty called out.

“Cheater!” Jubilee shouted, but her outrage was good-natured.

“Good thinking, Hannah,” Scott called out. “Keep it up.”

“Gotcha!” Jubilee exclaimed suddenly. When the fireworks died down Hannah sent the juice back up to the lights and the fluorescents kicked back on.

Jubilee held onto John’s upper arm. The boy looked a bit peeved, but the devilish smile he put on as soon as they all turned to stare could have scared Logan.

“I’m it,” he drawled.

“Stop being dramatic Johnny,” Rogue teased. “You’re not Snidely Whiplash.”

“Who?” John asked, shooting her a blank look.

“Never mind.”

“Get ready,” Scott snapped.

Hannah found her place near the corner once more, as the rest of them all readied themselves.

The signal from Scott set John off, and in a flash of flame, the room was in motion once more. He went after Bobby first, obviously. The two of them had a healthy rivalry, and if Bobby had been it, he’d have done the same.

John struck out at the other boy with a whip of flames, trying to trip him up. Bobby seemed unfazed. Hannah didn’t want to sit around watching though. Glancing around, Hannah tried to stake out a proper place to hide, or at least an exit strategy when John got bored of Bobby.

Kitty was peeking halfway out of a huge block of cement, eyes darting around the room. Hannah darted over.

“Wanna help a girl out?” she asked, smiling brightly at the other girl out. Kitty grinned.

“Gotta watch my own back, Han.”

“Scott said we should be working together!” she protested.

“Yeah, but ganging up isn’t fair. Sorry, thems the rules.”

“She’s right,” Jubilee chimed in. “No one wants to get ganged up on, so we don’t do it when we’re not it.”

Hannah pouted. “Well what am I supposed to do? You all have something _more_ than turning the lights on and off.”

“I dunno, maybe try that whip thing John does,” Jubilee suggested.

Before she could give anymore advice though, John came barreling towards her, a massive wave of flames at his back.

“No tag-backs!” Jubes shouted, lighting up a firework in his face. It was harmless, only leaving his blinking long enough for Hannah, Jubes, and Kitty to run off. Hannah saw the large ice sculpture Bobby had built himself, and understood why John had abandoned him to find someone easier.

“Watch out new girl!” John teased, and she felt the tell-tale heat of his flames licking at her heels. Squealing, Hannah tried to push herself a little faster, a little further, but the knowledge of the fire so close left her stumbling. She fell to her hands and knees and without thinking, she struck out.

The arc of lightning left her hand an instant later, slashing at John’s chest. He jumped back, eyes wide with surprised, but he didn’t look- well he was still moving, which was a good sign.

“Hannah that was fucking awesome!” Kitty exclaimed, clapping her hands.

Hannah grinned, scrambling to her feet. Experimentally, she tried to recreate the effect. In a second, she had a bundle of electricity in both hands. She emulated the motion of cracking a whip and long tendrils of sparks followed along. Her smile grew even bigger.

“That hurt?” she asked John, glancing away from her handiwork for a moment to meet his eyes.

“Little bit,” he admitted. “Don’t feel bad. Bobby tried to give me frost bite.”

“Cool!” And with that, she struck out again. John jumped back before the sparks could touch him, which was what she’d hoped he’d do, and it bought her enough time to book it across the room, towards the rest of the students. They all scattered at that, trying to spread out and make it harder for John.

Hannah was breathless from both exhaustion and excitement when they wrapped up a twenty minutes later, when Bobby had managed to grab a hold of Rogue’s clothed arm after finally getting tagged by John. Scott had called an end to the lesson then, to everyone’s relief.

“That was so fun!” Hannah gushed as they all left the room. Her breath was coming heavy, and sweat was sticking her bangs to her forehead, but she was happy all the same. That had been way better than gym class in a public school.

“Don’t get too excited. Not every day is like that,” Bobby warned. “Professor Summers only lets us play Power Tag every once in a while.”

“Who cares!” she replied, throwing her arms wide and jogging ahead of everyone else so she could face them and walk backwards down the long, brightly lit metal hallway. “Didn’t you guys see what I _did_ in there? That was way more than turning a light on!”

“It _was_ cool, Hannah,” Kitty assured her.

“Yeah, girl. Gotta keep up the good work,” Rogue said, bumping her hip against Hannah’s. “Thought you were gonna shock Johnny outta his boots.”

“The Professor made non-lethal shocking our first priority,” Hannah said. “Glad I can keep to that.”

“Yeah, me too,” John joked, shoving her playfully.

Hannah blushed at his close contact, surprising herself with her reaction.

Feeling suddenly awkward, Hannah searched her mind for something to say to fill the quiet hallway. “Do you guys wanna work on our bio lab later?” she asked.

“I would like that very much,” Piotr piped up. “I hate Punnett squares.”

“Who doesn’t,” Rogue grumbled. “I swear, Jean and the Professor are just too interested in genetics for their own good.”

“For our own good!” Kitty moaned.

“How are there even ten by ten squares? How many parents can there be?” Rogue asked.

 

            Hannah was splayed out on her bed later that night, book in hands, when she heard the noise out in the yard. Up instantly, she moved towards the window. She scanned the grounds beneath the window, looking for any movement, but after a moment she relaxed. There didn’t seem to be anything out there, and anyway, all the mansion’s security would pick anything dangerous up before she’d see it.

            Rogue was nestled into the bed across the room, fast asleep when Hannah turned back around. They’d all gathered in Bobby and John’s room to study, simply because the pair had already gotten through bio, and Kitty insisted that they walk the rest through it. It was only after Ororo had come upstairs to break up the little study session that they all realized how late they’d gone.

            They’d all gone their separate ways, Rogue falling asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, but Hannah couldn’t quite get there. She was tired, for sure. Power tag had taken a lot out of her, and she’d had a long day besides that, but still, sleep wouldn’t come.

            Wrenching herself away from the window, Hannah decided she could use a glass of water. Creeping out of the room, trying not to wake anyone, Hannah made her way to the kitchen. She could have gotten a drink in one of the lavatories, but she wanted to take the walk.

            The ground floor was dead silent when she descended to it, ill lit. Except, of course for Elliot, in his usual position in front of the rec room television. Elliot didn’t sleep.

            The kitchen light was off, so upon entry, she didn’t immediately realize she wasn’t alone. Until the other person coughed, and Hannah thought her skeleton had jumped right out of her body. Repressing a scream, she whipped around to glare at the figure seated at the large kitchen table.

“What the hell!” she snapped, although her voice didn’t rise above a stage whisper.

“Sorry,” John said, but he didn’t look sorry. He looked smug. As usual.

“Warn a person you’re in the room, why don’t you?”

“I did,” he reminded her. “That’s what I was _trying_ to do.”

“Why are you sitting in the kitchen alone in the dark anyway?” she asked, moving further into the room and flicking the light on with a flick of her finger.

He held up a mug. “Coffee.”

“At-“ she began, glancing back towards the microwave to get the time. “1 am?”

“You’re up too.”

“I was getting a glass of water,” she said, “not caffeinating myself.”

“Couldn’t sleep anyway. How about you? Why aren’t you upstairs counting sheep?”

“Thought I heard something outside.”

He nodded. After a moment, he gestured towards the chair across from his, indicating she take a seat. A second of contemplation led her to take him up on the offer her glass of water abandoned for the time being.

“Tell me about yourself,” he prompted, shooting her that smug smile once more.

She stuck her tongue out at him. “You first.”

“I asked you first,” he protested.

“I asked you second.”

“Fine,” he acquiesced. “I am incredibly interesting, so I guess I might as well.”

She snorted, but didn’t interrupt.

“I’m an only child, my parents were assholes, and I’m originally from Melbourne Australia. I can burn things really _really_ good, and I’m devilishly handsome.”

“That about sums it up,” Hannah laughed. “You were right; I should have gone first.”

He tossed his head, pretending to take offense. “It’s not a fun story, you know. Nobody’s here is. Pretty much the same as anyone else. When I got my powers, shit happened, my parents found out, and then more shit happened.”

“What did they do?” she asked.  
“They freaked. Called me a monster. You know, the usual stuff.”

“Did they try to make you go to the government camps?”

“Oh yeah. Almost convinced me I should, too. Then I saw the Professor on TV. Realized it wasn’t the only option. So I changed my plans.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. Without a thought, Hannah reached across the table to place her hand beside his. Not touching, but close to it.

“No biggie. Like I said, everyone here has a sob story. Comes with the territory.”

“I killed my mom’s cat. But I think I already told you guys that.”

“Yeah. Not a cat person, huh?” he joked. When she nodded he laughed. “Me neither.”

A movement in the corner of her eyes had Hannah turning quickly towards the window, squinting out into the darkness. “Did you see that?” she asked, all humor draining from her voice.

“What?” he asked, turning to stare where she was staring.

“I saw something out there. I swear, there’s someone outside.”

Hannah’s skin crawled with fear as she rose from her chair to scan the window more closely. Again, the grounds were quiet and motionless but she knew she’d seen something.

“You wanna tell a teacher?” John asked. “They could just check it out.”

“Maybe we should,” she agreed.

The pair of them hurried out of the kitchen and up the stair towards the teacher’s hall. John led the way to Logan’s door, and Hannah was more than happy to let him. She had a feeling Wolvie didn’t love getting woken up in the middle of the night.

John knocked on the door forcefully, not wasting any time. When Logan yanked the door open, looking ferocious with his mussed hair and his murderous stare, the teenagers took a step- or two- back.

“What?” he snapped. “Why ya wakin’ me up?”

“Uh…Hannah saw something.”

“What?” Logan repeated, less gruff this time around.

“I dunno. But I think- I think there’s someone on the grounds. I saw someone out the window.”

Logan looked a little incredulous, but he still shuffled back into his room to pull on a pair of boots. “Wake the Professor and Scott up. I’ll go out an’ check.”

“Right,” John said, giving the man a quick nod. Hannah watched him walk off before turning back to John.

“I’ll get Scott, you get the Professor,” he told her. She nodded, and the pair of them split up.

            Hannah walked the short distance down the hall to the Professor’s hallway, hands clenched. She was really hoping this was nothing. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt.

Before she could even knock on the door, it opened, the Professor- still in his pyjamas- rolling himself out into the hallway. “I heard,” he explained. “Now, my dear, what exactly did you see?”

“It was- It wasn’t much Professor. Probably nothing. But I heard something outside up in my room, and then I went downstairs to get a glass of water and I think I saw someone outside the window. Logan’s going outside.”

“Thank you Hannah,” the Professor said, looking grim. A sound at the other end of the hall alerted both of them to John leading Scott towards them.

“What’s the situation, Professor,” Scott asked.

“Hannah’s alerted us to a possible intruder, Scott. Logan’s gone out to investigate. Perhaps we could wait for him in the foyer?”

“Want me to put the kids to bed?” Scott asked, sending both of them a ridiculously patronizing look.

The Professor barely had the chance to answer before Hannah protested. “Professor, I’d rather see this through. I won’t get involved, but I’d like to-“

“Hannah, it’d really be safer if-“ Scott tried to interrupt her.

She shook her head. “If it’s okay with you, Professor?”

Professor Xavier frowned, but offered a short nod in her direction. “Come along, then.”

While the two older men took the lead, Hannah and John trailed behind them. With a sly grin, John offered her a fist to bump. She followed through on the gesture, although she wasn’t as triumphant as he was. She wanted to see it through, that was true, but more out of concern than pride, or even curiosity.

They waited in the foyer for way longer than Hannah was comfortable with, but it was a good thirty minutes before they heard the commotion outside. Scott shot out of the armchair just beside the front door, eyes turning quickly to the front windows. The Professor sat up a bit as well, squinting his eyes in concentration.

“It seems that Logan has found an interloper on the grounds,” he announced. “I young man…a mutant.”

“Friendly?” Scott asked hopefully.

“I…I’ll have to get back to you on that front, Scott,” he said, looking a bit more concerned than Hannah- or Scott for that matter, was comfortable with.

The front door swung open before any of them could press him for more information though, and Logan stomped in while holding a teenaged boy by the collar of a long brown leather duster. Both were soaking wet, and a cursory glance outside reassured her that it wasn’t raining. Must have fallen in the lake.

“Found this one working on the motion sensors by the driveway, Chuck. Smells like a rat,” Logan growled, shaking the boy a bit.

“Thank you, Logan, but I’d rather you didn’t shake him very much. You’re getting water on the carpet,” the Professor answered wryly. Hannah couldn’t hide her smile.

“Oi, mon ami, careful with de coat,” the boy finally piped up, attempting to wrench himself from Logan’s iron grip. It had the expected result, which was nothing.

“May I ask just what you were doing outside, young man?” the Professor asked. The boy’s eyes flicked to the group huddled a little out of the splash zone, taking them in with striking eyes. They were…black, and red, and…did he just wink?

“Bon jour, belle femme,” he drawled.

“What?” she asked. She couldn’t speak- was that French?- but his demeanor told her it was a salacious, or at least flirtatious, comment.

“The man asked you a question,” Scott barked, glaring at the boy.

“Sorry, mon ami, but Remy always needs to make time for a beautiful girl such as her,” the boy- Remy obviously, but who the hell talked in third person?- joked. “I wanted to make an entrance. Apparently dat plan’s not gonna come to fruition.”

“An entrance?” Logan asked, shaking the boy again.

“I gotta come to you for help, mon ami, but I still have my dignity. I wasn’t gonna just waltz in like anybody else.”

“You were hoping to wow us with your _burglary_ skills?” Scott exclaimed.

“Oui, mon ami. Maybe not de best plan I ever had.”

“Regardless, we are a sanctuary for mutants. Pray tell- Remy I take it?”

“Oui.”

“Remy, why do you need our help?” the Professor asked.

“Run in wit’ some shady people, you know, de normal stuff,” he shrugged as much as he could with Logan’s hand at his collar. “I heard you all take in mutants who have no one else. Dis a school, non?”

“This is,” the Professor agreed. “But we won’t harbor a fugitive, or take in someone who could be a risk to the other students. Can you assure me you are neither? Would you permit me into your mind? I realize you have a shield up at the moment.”

“I actually got a better one than tha’ mon ami. I came here to see Stormy.”

“Stormy?” John asked. “Does she know you call her that?”

“Oui! Stormy and I go way back. Old friends. Go ahead, ask her!” the boy insisted, giving them all a dazzling smile.

“Want me to go get her Professor?” John asked, looking intrigued.

“Not to worry, John. I’ve already woken her.”

Remy’s eyes lit up. “Good, good. Stormy’ll show you dat Remy’s no harm.”

“Now,” the Professor began, turning his wheelchair towards the pair of them. Hannah felt the sudden surge of disappointment when she realized that he was about to send them both away. She actually wanted to hear how Storm knew some hyperactive Cajun burglar. “I think the both of you had better head back upstairs. I wouldn’t want you to be too tired for classes tomorrow. And I believe Remy will want some privacy when Ororo joins us.”

“But Professor-“ John complained.

“John, bed,” Scott ordered. His shoulders slumped. Hannah didn’t even bother arguing.

“C’mon Johnny. Bed time,” she grumbled, tugging his arm in the direction of the stairs.”

“Bonne nuit, mes nouveaux amis!” Remy called out to them. Hannah turned back and tossed him a tired smile, but didn’t respond. John only rolled his eyes.

As soon as they got up the first landing, passing Storm and Jean on their way down, John turned back to her. “Wanna eavesdrop?” he offered.

“Oh yeah, and I’m sure the two telepaths and the big guy with the mega-nose won’t even notice,” she said. He sent her a _look_ , but nodded, as if he was considering the wisdom of her words. But only for a second.

“Coward,” he accused. She only shrugged in response.

“I _am_ tired,” she said. “That kid seems like he loves hearing his own voice. You think he won’t spill everything first thing tomorrow? Kitty’ll have his life story by second period.”

“Who knows if it’ll be the real deal, though,” John pointed out.

“Good night, John,” she finally huffed, stomping the rest of the way up the stairs. He followed behind at a more leisurely pace, but he still walked her back to her room, passing his own on the way.

“Night, Hannah,” he said when they stopped before her door. She stared at him, waiting for him to say more, but his lips were shut tight.

“O-kay,” she said, nodding at him.

The look he was giving her was…weird, and suddenly she was all too aware of the space between them. Her limbs starting prickling, and she could feel the excess of nervous energy as it crackled all over her body. She turned towards her door to try to lessen the awkwardness, but he put out a hand to stop her. He turned her back to him, eyes soft and dark, and before she realized what was happening, their faces were inches away from each other’s.

She realized just as he made contact that it was a mistake. A tiny arc of electricity shot out to meet his lips. He jumped back immediately, cursing up a storm, shaking his head furiously.

“Sorry!” She tried to reach out, soothe the hurt somehow but he flinched back.

“Shit- uh, sorry Hannah,” he said. “Good night.” With that, he ducked away, traveling back down the hall towards his room. She hurried into her room, careful to close the door as quietly as possible.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't get used to the fluff folks, by the end of this fic you'll be cursing me.

Hannah avoided John like the plague after that night. It wasn’t that she was angry with him, or that she wanted to avoid him, but… Well fuck if she knew, honestly. Her emotions were a mess, and the worst part was that she knew this was coming out of nowhere. John was cute, but she wasn’t exactly looking to catch feelings or anything. She was hardly in the right headspace for anything like a relationship. But that night, she’d felt the desire to freaking kiss him, which was not happening. And then when her powers had acted up…

            So she was avoiding him. And he probably noticed, because he just seemed to be perceptive like that, but there was no way she was fucking this peace she’d found up with stupid teenage drama.

            It wasn’t really that hard. With the arrival of Gambit, everyone was a little too caught up in the boy to think about anything else. He was an instant source of gossip and interest, with his accent, his French, and his flamboyant personality. All the younger girls were half in love with him by his second day there, and their group of older students had welcomed him into the fold only a little slower than they did Hannah.

She had to admit, while he could be a really fucking over the top, he _was_ a charming guy. Kitty tried to hide it- from Piotr at least- but Hannah had noticed that she’d taken to staring at Gambit’s lips when he talked. And he talked _a lot_.  

“What’s New Orleans like?” Jubilee asked one day as they all crowded around the big oak tree out on the lawn. It was the first sunny day in a week and they were all taking it in as much as they could.

Gambit grinned at the question, probably thrilled to have the chance to answer questions about himself and “his city” as he called it. “Oh, _Jubilation_ , it is the best of the best. New Orleans is the gem of de south. Bright lights, loud music, and enough partying to sate the thirstiest reveler.”

Hannah could swear she’d heard Rogue’s eyes roll at his ridiculous description, but Gambit didn’t seem to notice. He never got distracted when he was getting to listen to himself talk.

“No other city holds a fucking candle to N’awlins, mon ami. And Mardi Gras? That’s just the tip, trust me.”

“Get over yourself, swamp rat,” Rogue snorted. Hannah let out a gasp of surprise, expecting some sort of anger from Gambit, but he only laughed.

“Oh, and what’s better dan N’awlins, river rat?” he asked. “Nuthin’ is Mississippi, dats fo’ sho’.”

Rogue rolled her eyes again, sinking more heavily into Bobby’s lap and turning away from him. This might just be the first time Rogue didn’t have a snappy retort. Hannah was surprised by this, to say the least.

“Well my hometown featured a heavily populated Walmart parking lot,” Hannah piped up, mostly because she wasn’t ready to sit by while Gambit waxed poetic about his “gem of the south” for any longer than necessary.

“Oh yes, mon ami?” Gambit asked. “Tell my more!”

She laughed at his false enthusiasm. “Well, not much else to do in such a small place. Mostly people hung out at Walmart or got high behind the Wendys.”

“That sounds fantastic,” Jubilee joked. “Why didn’t you tell us you lived in such a hotspot?”

“Slipped my mind. Not that I’m regretful. I spent about twelve hours in New York and almost got murdered. Not a great first impression.”

“Oh, city life ain’t so bad, femme. Just gotta know da right people!” Gambit assured her.

“Did _you_ know the right people, swamp rat?” Rogue asked, but the insult was softer this time, somehow. She just seemed curious.

“Oui. I knew some of de best people.”

“And yet you are here,” Piotr said. “Why is that?”

“Mutants always end up in trouble, don’t dey?” Gambit asked. But it wasn’t much of an answer. He was right, but that wasn’t what Piotr had asked.

“Where are you from now, Hannah?” Gambit posed the question before any of them could press him for more details. She perked up at the recognition. She’d already told everyone else her story. They’d all been open about the struggles they’d faced at home, so telling it again was pretty easy.

“I’m from Pennsylvania. Scranton, actually. You know, like from the Office?”

“Oui, I’m familiar.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not _actually_ from there, but that’s the nearest place people can usually identify. You already know, but I just got here a few weeks before you…”

 

They spent most of that day lazing about, talking about themselves, being largely self-interested. John was just another one in a larger group. She could avoid speaking to- or looking at- him for a good deal of the time without anyone noticing, but as soon as classes started again on Monday, avoiding him got harder.

First there was her history class, where he and Jubilee were seated on each side of her. She tried to keep an exorbitant amount of her attention on her notes, but there was only so much she had to write down, and only so long that Storm could lecture, before John was trying to engage her in conversation.

He’d leaned over towards her and waved his pencil under her nose, trying to get her to look at him. Afraid that ignoring him would be too suspicious, she glanced up at him. She shot him a stern look, signaling that she was trying to pay attention, but that was when Storm called out for them to get into pairs. A younger girl had nabbed Jubilee before Hannah had even turned towards the girl, so when John scooted his desk closer to hers she had no escape.

“Did I piss you off?” he asked, as soon as Storm had explained the group work to them.

She turned a confused stare on him. How could that night have caused her to get mad at him? He hadn’t _done_ anything.

“No. No, why would you think-“

“You’ve been ignoring me for like four days.”

“No I haven’t,” she said.

He only gave her a look of disbelief.

“You- I’m not _mad_ ,” she said.

“So you’re…what, uncomfortable?” he asked. “Did I make you feel weird? Cause I didn’t mean to.”

“No, no it wasn’t like that.”

“Oh, ok. So what is it?” he asked. He looked puzzled, a little hurt, and she suddenly realized how stupid she was being. Obviously, it hadn’t been nothing, or her imagination- _he_ was aware it had been something just as much as she was- but maybe she’d read too far into it. Maybe-

“I just, I don’t know. It was… It’s stupid. I’m just weird. I don’t know.”

 _Wow, really fucking eloquent_.

“Oh,” he said after a few moments of silence. “So… _alright_.”

“Sorry. I’m just…” she trailed off, at a loss for words. She didn’t even _know_.

“Weird?” he prompted.

“Yeah.”

“So if I were to, I don’t know, try something like that again, you wouldn’t freak out? Zap me?” he asked, giving her a grin.

She flushed, instantly. “I’m not sure- I mean, about the zapping. I swear it was an accident. It just happened, you know?” she asked, voice rushing out of her in one breath.

He nodded, chuckling slightly. “Yeah. No, I didn’t think you were trying to tase me or anything.”

“Good. ‘Cause I wasn’t. And I wouldn’t, if you maybe wanted to…”

“Are you two even working?” Jubilee snapped from a desk over, sending them both a confused look. “This is due by the end of the class period.”

Hannah blushed, hoping, Jubes hadn’t heard any of the details of their conversation. They didn’t bring up the other night again. Instead, Hannah struggled to focus on answering the questions posed by the handout. It was a touch hard, focusing on the Treaty of Versailles when she could acutely feel the heat John put off, their shoulders so close they were almost touching.

            It was managed, by the end of class, but she doubted she was gonna win any rewards for her responses. Jubilee kept shooting her strange looks as the class began packing their things up in order to head on to second period.

 Once they’d gotten into the corridor, John peeled off to head to his second class and Jubes took Hannah’s arm in a vice like grip.

“Ow!” Hannah complained, but the other girl only gave her a flinty look.

“What the heck is going on with you and John?” she asked.

“What are you talking about?” she hedged, trying at a guileless look.

“Well, you’ve been ignoring him for like a week, and you were looking at him all moony for the entire class.”

“Hannah shrugged her off, trying to pass the girl and start on to her next class, but Jubes was having none of it.

“Do you like him?” she whispered, her face a mixture of confusion, excitement, and a dash of disgust. Hannah rolled her eyes.

“No, Jubes. I zapped him the night Gambit showed up. It was an accident but I felt really bad about it. I’ve gotten so much better with controlling my power, but it slipped, and I was embarrassed, and…”

“That’s it?” Jubes asked.

“Gee, Jubes, sorry to disappoint,” Hannah joked. The girl did look like Hannah had crushed her hopes. Hopes for a juicy tidbit of gossip, probably.

“Sorry, Han. But I gotta keep myself entertained. Best I got at this point is living vicariously through Kitty and Rogue, until someone interesting comes along. Dating pool around here isn’t exactly exciting.”

“What about Gambit,” Hannah teased. She tried to catalogue the exact look of anger and humiliation that swept across Jubilee’s face when she said that, so she could describe it to Rogue later.

“Him? You think I- _Him_?!” She laughed out loud at Jubilee’s sputtering attempt at a retort.

“Doesn’t feel great, does it Jubes? Let’s just stay out of each other’s imagined love lives, huh?”

“Wow, point taken,” Jubilee snapped, but she wasn’t really angry, just a little outraged at the idea of her liking _Gambit_.

 

Unfortunately, history class hadn’t solved the issue entirely. At lunch, while Bobby and Kitty and Gambit were arguing about Freud, for some reason, John sidled up to her, taking the chair usually reserved for Rogue. Hannah shot him a confused glance, but he only offered her an inscrutable smile. When Rogue finally came to the table, tray stacked high with extra fries at the behest of Bobby—the Professor had noticed how many servings he was taking and asked him politely not to eat the rest of the students out of house and home—she sent a confused glance in John’s direction.

Jubilee, noticing the almost non-exchange lit up. She hunched closer to Hannah across the table. “Sitting next to John?” she asked, not even bothering to lower her voice. Kitty’s attention snapped instantly to the three of them at the end of the table, face alight.

“He sat next to me,” Hannah pointed out, sending John a dark look. He only smiled.

“Sat next to you at history too, didn’t he?” Jubes replied. John chuckled.

“You know I’m sitting right here, don’t you?” he asked.

“I have noticed that, yeah,” Jubes laughed. “But why?”

“Can’t change things up?” he asked.

“We always sit in the same seats,” Kitty called out, lips quirked up. It was obvious she was trying not to laugh.

“Who cares?” Bobby asked, looking a bit put off that Kitty hadn’t bothered responding to his comment about repressed memories.

“Hannah does!” Jubilee sang.

It wouldn’t have meant anything, if they all hadn’t stuck to their unofficial seating arrangement for the two months Hannah had been at the institute. Rogue always sat next to her. John usually sat between Piotr and Bobby. They’d shuffled around only a bit to make allowance for Gambit. She cursed John’s need to kick up suspicion after she’d been so successful at turning Jubes off her trail.

It had just been a kiss. Not even a kiss really. They’d barely brushed lips when she shocked him away. Why it needed to be a whole _thing_ completely escaped her.

“Do John and Hannah li-i-ike each other?” Kitty burst out, jumping up and down in her seat with joy.

“No!” Hannah snapped, but John was irritatingly silent, only offering the table another inscrutable smile. Of _course_ he’d be like this.

“The Lady dost protest too much!” Gambit exclaimed, offering her a wink.

“Shut it, swamp rat,” Rogue said, but there wasn’t much heat behind her words. She was studying Hannah curiously, a smile spreading slowly across her cheeks. God, even Rogue believed this crap.

“It wasn’t even anything!” Hannah exclaimed, turning to glare at Kitty.

“ _It_?” Bobby pondered aloud. “What is _it_?”

“A kiss,” John offered, with a quick shit eating grin. Hannah felt the flush burn across her cheeks. She wished suddenly that she had Kitty’s power so she could sink into the floor and keep on sinking till she made it all the way to china.

“Not even a kiss,” she argued. “Barely anything.”

“You wound me!” John said, clutching mockingly at his chest.

With a sharp huff, Hannah stood up from the table. Without another look back she stomped out of the caf, barely even noticing the way the lights flickering dim for a moment as she passed.

They called out to her but she didn’t pause, making a beeline for her room.

Why did Jubilee need to push it? It was bad enough that she was new, that they all knew each other so much better than her, but now they had to make her the butt of some joke.

And the kiss, if you could even call it that… yeah, it might have been nice, if it had actually happened. But it _hadn’t_. And the way he was teasing her, Hannah wondered for longer than a moment if he’d only done it as a joke. Or out of pity, or something. She’d never really been a relationship before, never really had a crush on someone else, and all of this was just embarrassing. She didn’t want them making fun of her. And she certainly didn’t want John trying to kiss her for a laugh.

It was hard enough admitting to herself that she sorta, maybe wished he’d persisted, kissed her through the shock. He was cute, and she was just a normal hormonal teenage girl, despite the superpowers.

“Hannah!”

She’d barely made it down the corridor, hadn’t even escaped the sounds of confusion coming from the caf.

“What?” she snapped, turning to glare at John. He wasn’t smiling any more.

“I didn’t- It wasn’t—“ he began.

“I really don’t want to talk to you right now,” she said. He looked properly contrite, but that wasn’t exactly comforting. “You’re such an _asshole_.”

“I wasn’t trying to embarrass you. I thought, I mean you _said_ , that you were into me, right? You told me if I tried to kiss you again…”

“Why would you think that meant I wanted you to tell everyone? Was it some kind of joke? Are you making fun of me?”

“What? Of course not,” he said. John rushed towards her. She could see the flush spreading across his cheeks. Whether it was anger or humiliation to mirror her own, she didn’t know. “I like you, a lot. I just-“

“You’re just an arrogant fuck,” she supplied, reveling in the way he flinched away from her words.

“I- I don’t know. But I’m not trying to make fun of you, or whatever. I _do_ …”

“ _Do_ what?”

He shrugged, eyes unwilling to meet hers. She straightened up, trying to catch his gaze, finally feeling a smile of her own spreading across her face. She laughed. “Oh.”

“What?” he snapped back, finally meeting her gaze. He looked angry, and confused, and still there was that sparkle of laughter, sardonic as it was.

“I do too,” she said instead of answering.

“Well, that’s good.”

“But that doesn’t mean you get to go back in there and _tell_ everyone.”

“I won’t,” he assured her. She wanted to believe him, so she didn’t press, but Hannah knew John couldn’t resist. Just like Bobby couldn’t resist complaining about his no-touch relationship, or Kitty couldn’t resist making terrible jokes about “polishing” Piotr, or Jubes couldn’t resist reminding them both of just how single she was. They all knew each other too well.

But then, what was she expecting. Their situations were so different from the norm. Of Bobby didn’t complain, he’d probably say something to Rogue and they’d break up. If Kitty didn’t joke, no doubt she was afraid everyone else would. They weren’t normal teenagers, and it weighed on a person.

Hannah had only been aware of her mutant-ness for two months and some change, but she could now acutely feel her own otherness. Even in a school full of people like her, the way she’d felt before would never return. Once, Hannah had been confident in her ability to blend into a crowd. She was a young, slim white girl in a predominately white place, she’d grown up with a roof over her head and food on the table every night. It didn’t matter how lucky she’d been to find the Professor so soon. The world hated mutants, and she was a mutant. She had it better than most, but if the time ever came…

She couldn’t turn back, couldn’t go home to her parents and be normal. If the mansion became a place she didn’t love living, she had nowhere else to go. It was a terrifying, achingly new feeling. And John had put her comfort to the test. Hannah could recognize the overreaction, being so upset about a simple joke, the teasing of a teenage boy, but they were all out of their depths, truly.

“Hannah?” he was still there, waiting for an affirmation, waiting for her to tell him it was alright. For a moment she thought about saying nothing, letting him stew, but then she remembered. They were all going through shit. It wasn’t fair for her to be so…so vindictive. “Not to be an asshole, but what does this mean?” John pressed when she wa silent for too long.

“Means nothing. Not right now anyway. But maybe if you behave youself…” Hannah smiled up at him, letting him know she was joking.

“Can you please come back to the cafeteria?” he asked. She shook her head. It wasn’t because of embarrassment anymore though. All this introspection made her want to splash some water on her face.

“No. I’ll eat later. I’m gonna head to the bathroom, maybe sit in my room for a little while.”

“Can we talk later?” he asked, hesitant in a way he never was.

“After classes are out,” she promised.

“Good.” He was smiling again.

“Good.”

 

She turned over the events of that evening for a while after Rogue had gone to bed, smirking at the irony of her situation, under the same circumstances as just a few nights ago once again because of John. She didn’t know if that was a good sign or not.

The rest of her friends had migrated to their usual spot in front of the television in the rec room but Hannah had headed straight to her room, knowing Rogue would be sitting right next to Bobby on their couch just like always. There, she’d waited nervously for John to make his way over, sitting on her bed and going through the motions of reading a book without even bothering to take in what was on the page.

In the end, she didn’t have to wait very long at all. Not five minutes after they’d reached her room, he’d popped his head around the doorframe, scanning the room with his eyes, searching for her. When he found her, she was sitting their staring at him. She’d squinted, trying to figure out why his hair look so small before she’d realized that he had attempted to slick it back. Now he just looked wet. She was touched by the effort though.

“Hey,” she greeted him, voice soft. He smiled, and she was comforted by the observation that he looked just as nervous as she did.

“So, we’re talking. Having a talk,” he said. He stayed in the doorway, arms swinging back and forth again and again, as if he was working to keep himself constantly in motion. Hannah wondered what he would do if she stood up and stopped his fidgeting.

“Yeah.”

“What do we want to talk about?” he asked.

She laughed. “You’re the one who called the summit, asshole.”

“Oh, yeah,” he agreed, a look of profound discomfort flashing quickly across his face. Sympathy killed her smile. She probably wasn’t making this any easier.

            “What do _you_ want to talk about?”

            He was silent, probably for the stretch of time she’d ever witnessed. His eyes scanned her face, looking for what, she wasn’t sure. Hannah found herself fidgeting under such intense scrutiny. Still, she didn’t speak. She wanted him to start, needed him to start. Once again, she was reminded of her relative inexperience when it came to stuff like this. If one of them was going to mess this up, she’d make sure it was him.

“I like you,” he said, finally, and she blushed furiously, letting out a nervous laugh that came from high in her throat and made her sound like an absolute idiot. “Not like- I mean- For a bunch of reasons. Not just like how Remy likes everyone he sees. You’re funny, and smart. And mean sometimes… That’s a good thing, by the way. You haven’t had your powers for very long but you’re already really good, ya know?”

Hannah swung off her bed in one fluid motion, followed by several unsteady ones as she rushed toward him, standing awkwardly in her doorway. She was kissing him before she’d really had a chance to think that through, but that was fine. This kiss was nothing to write home about. It was short, and awkward, and he broke away pretty quickly simply from shock. But it was enough. Better than the first by far, the way he’d melted into her, hands flying to her waist before immediately retreating. He was hesitant in this like he was nowhere else.

She’d been thinking about it for a while he’d left a stuttering mess, her laughter following him down the hall. There was no desire in her to go down stairs and act normally, like she hadn’t just had her first real kiss.


End file.
